Morning on Eternia
by Rosepixie
Summary: A series of very short stories about characters from Masters of the Universe in the morning. There is very little plot, but it is safe to assume that the stories all take place on the same morning, so small connections may become evident. I have no current plans to expand any of these, but may continue to add more of them over time.
1. He-Man

The Sorceress had woken Adam up in the middle of the night, calling for He-Man to come to Grayskull. He had expected to find the forbidding castle under siege again when he arrived, but had found the place pleasantly peaceful.

It had turned out that She-Ra had needed to consult with him through the stone in her sword and hadn't realized how late it was on Eternia. They spoke at length, however, and hammered out a plan. He would head to Etheria to help with the final phase in three days time.

Now, however, it was just after dawn and He-Man was heading home to the palace to change back into Prince Adam and get some much-needed sleep. He could barely keep his eyes open as he rode Battle-Cat through the forest.

It was probably because he was so tired that he didn't hear the pounding footsteps until the runner was almost upon them. Whoever it was, it sounded like they were running fast.

"Stop, Cat," He-Man murmured softly as he watched for the runner to emerge from the trees. Battle-Cat obediently stopped in the center of the clearing.

He-Man started, instantly alarmed, when Teela came bursting out of the trees heading right towards him. His mind instantly switched into panic mode. What had frightened her? Who was she running from? Had Skeletor attacked while he was away? But then what he was seeing fully registered with his brain. She didn't look afraid. She looked thoughtful and content, the way she always looked when she simply went running. He was so tired that he'd miss-read a sight he'd seen a thousand times.

At least Teela didn't seem to have noticed him or Battle-Cat, he thought with a smile as she skidded to a stop barely inches from Battle-Cat's shoulder.

"Good morning, Teela," he greeted her, trying to reign in his pleasure and amusement at seeing her.

"Good morning," she replied with a wide smile.

It dawned on him that it was a good morning. Very good, indeed.


	2. Teela

Teela woke up as the rising sun peeked through her window. She sat up and took a deep breath, enjoying the sweet fresh air coming through the open casement. What a perfect morning it was!

She climbed out of bed and stretched her arms up over her head and then out to her sides. She wanted to be outside. Teela pulled her nightgown over her head and shimmied into her bodysuit from yesterday. She'd wash up and put on clean clothes after a nice run.

The corridors of the Palace were quiet except for the guards on duty. Teela nodded to each as she passed, but she didn't stop until she got outside the gates. Once outside the Palace, she took a few minutes to stretch and then started to run in the direction of the woods. The feeling of her long legs extending and pulling back in, of her boots pounding against the dirt path into the forest, was exactly what she wanted.

Teela let herself get so lost in enjoying her peaceful run that she nearly ran right into the large green tiger standing in the clearing. She skidded to a stop so close to it that she had to put her arms out to touch the beast's shoulder and assure herself that she wasn't going to collide with it. The heavily muscled man astride the beast smiled at her with laughter in his eyes.

"Good morning, Teela," He-Man greeted her, his deep voice rumbling with barely suppressed laughter.

"Good morning," she replied. "What brings you out so early this fine morning?"

"I couldn't resist coming out for a ride," he answered as he vaulted off of Battle-Cat. "May I walk with you?"

"Of course!"

They walked back towards the palace side by side - close together, but never touching. Battle-Cat rolled his eyes and followed after them.


	3. Tri-Klops

Tri-Klops rolled over and turned off the buzzing alarm gizmo that sat on the table by his bed. He looked towards the window and sighed. The sun was almost never visible from Snake Mountain. The sky would grow slightly less dark during the day, but it never actually grew light. Some of the denizens of Snake Mountain loved the permanent lack of daylight, but Tri-Klops was not among them.

The engineer sat up on his bed and groaned at the soreness. He twisted his torso this way and that and stretched his arms in different ways trying to work the kinks out of his back and shoulders. He really needed to do something about his bed. It, like most of the furniture in Snake Mountain, was made of stone with only a thin mattress on top, which was far from enough to make it comfortable. He had plans drawn up in his workshop for improvements to his bed, but other projects always seemed to take priority. The pain in his back and shoulders was making a strong case for getting it done sooner, though.

Tri-Klops was climbing to his feet when another small metal device on his bedside table began beeping insistently. He picked up his visor and slipped it on over his head, then scooped up the beeping device and strode quickly out of the room.

A few doors down the hallway was Tri-Klops' lab. When he walked in he took a quick look around. Once he was reasonably certain that no one had been in the room since he had last left it, he made his way over to a small viewscreen mounted on a tripod.

The engineer played with the controls for a minute and an image came up on the screen. There was no sound, but he had a clear image of a muscular man and a lithe, red-haired woman walking beside a large green tiger. He peered at the handheld unit to see where the unit taking the video was.

Disappointed to see that the spy unit was just outside the Eternian Palace, he turned off the screen. The unit would continue to record everything and he could watch it later. Maybe it would bring back something worthwhile, but he didn't need to monitor it for that.

Tri-Klops headed back to his bedroom to finish getting ready for the day. He could come back and get to work once he was dressed.


	4. Evil-Lyn

Evil-Lyn sighed contentedly and stretched her arms above her head. Most of the time, the morons that Skeletor kept around woke her up repeatedly throughout the night, but last night she hadn't been woken up once. There had been no Beastman chasing an escaped creature through the hallway, no crashes from Whiplash's tail smashing things, no explosions from Trap-Jaw's arm device experiments backfiring, and no mountain-shaking tantrums from Skeletor himself.

It suddenly occurred to her that perhaps she should be suspicious of that. Evil-Lyn sat up and threw the covers back. She seemed fine and didn't have the fuzzy feeling that would indicate someone had drugged her (not that she let any of the idiots around here near anything she ate or drank anyway), but that didn't mean that nothing was fishy.

Cautiously, Evil-Lyn approached her chamber door, snatching up her staff as she crossed the room. She felt carefully for the ward she laid on her door every night. It was still there and had apparently not been activated or tampered with since she had activated it.

Deciding to cautiously accept that for now, Evil-Lyn headed over to a screen in the corner of the room. Behind the screen was a hip bath which filled up with warm water at a wave of her magic staff. Sliding her nightgown over her head, the sorceress stepped into the warm, fresh bath.

After a long, luxurious bath, Evil-Lyn slipped into her bodysuit, boots, and bracers. She stood in front of the bone-framed mirror and slipped her crested headpiece on over her hair. Satisfied with her reflection, she strode back across the room.

Shoulders squared and head held high, she threw open the door.

The corridor was completely empty. She wondered with growing rage if Skeletor had sent the others on a mission without informing her. If he thought that she would let that happen without a response, then she would swiftly show him the error of his ways.

The fearsome sorceress strode purposefully towards the throne room with fire blazing in her eyes. Skeletor would regret leaving her out of the loop!


	5. The Sorceress

The Sorceress sank wearily into a chair in a quiet room tucked away in Castle Grayskull. She had been awakened in the middle of the night by Princess Adora contacting Grayskull from her home on Etheria. For the last few hours the Sorceress had been awake and busy counseling the castle's two young protectors. Their discussions had been productive, but now the Sorceress was so tired that the short trip to the bedroom sounded exhausting.

Knowing that there was a good chance that her daughter was still sleeping, but wanting a glimpse of her anyway, the Sorceress called up a vision of Teela. She realized that it must be even later than she had thought when the vision showed Teela running through the Evergreen Forest. Her expression was a familiar one and made the Sorceress smile. It was so clear that the young warrior was relaxed and enjoying herself. She looked like she was happy and hadn't a worry in the world.

The Sorceress smiled as she watched Teela nearly run into Battle Cat. Pleased that her daughter was safe and happy, she pulled herself out of the chair and waved away the vision. She headed wearily down the corridor towards her small bedroom.

Slipping out of her heavy feathered costume and into a soft sleeveless nightgown, the Sorceress yawned. She was going to go back to bed for a few hours of precious sleep. The castle would wake her if she was needed.

She stretched out on her bed and turned towards the window. As she drifted off to sleep in the soft dawn light, she gazed out at the sky imagining how good it felt under her falcon wings when she flew. It was her favorite thing, short of watching her daughter, and easily the best perk from her job as Sorceress of Castle Grayskull. Her eyes closed as she slipped into dreams of gliding and dipping on gentle air currents.


	6. Skeletor

Skeletor turned over in his bed. He had been tossing and turning all night. He knew that it would be morning soon and his minions would start banging around Snake Mountain. When that happened, he knew that he wouldn't be able to get any more sleep, no matter how hard he tried. The very thought made him angry enough that his eyes began to glow red.

The Master of Snake Mountain sat up abruptly. He would not allow his rest to be disturbed further today. Skeletor stormed out of his bedroom and thundered down the corridor to the area where most of his minions had their rooms. He chose the worst offenders - Beastman, Clawful, Trap Jaw, Merman, and Whiplash. He was tempted to send Stinkor as well, but decided that waking up the smelly minion wasn't worth it.

With an imperious pounding of his Havok Staff, Skeletor sent his voice into each of the chosen minions' chambers and summoned them to his throne room. He teleported himself there and waited for the evil warriors to stumble in. Sinking into his throne, he let some of the anger burn away, but not enough to reconsider sending them off this morning.

Trap Jaw wandered in first, yawning. He had clearly just woken up, but he was dressed in his battle armor and carrying his kit of arm attachments. Skeletor watched him, but did not say anything. The silence of the brooding Evil Lord of Destruction was clearly unnerving to his minions, a fact Skeletor took a perverse pleasure in. He glared at each man who arrived, but said nothing until all of them were assembled before him. When Clawful, the last to arrive, had finally come to stand next to his fellows, the Overlord of Evil stood up and struck his staff once against the stone at his feet. The whole group sharply straightened to attention.

"In the mountains north of Castle Grayskull is a cave," Skeletor intoned, skipping any preamble. "Somewhere in the cave is the Diamond of Destruction. Find it for me."

"Where do were start looking?" Trap Jaw asked.

With a snap of his fingers, a map appeared and floated to the metal-mouthed man's flesh hand.

"Take this. Now, out of my sight! Bring me that Diamond!"

"Yes, Skeletor," the group grumbled as they scrambled over one another to leave the room as quickly as possible.

With a sigh, Skeletor sank back into his throne. Now maybe he could get some sleep. It was likely to be a few days before Trap Jaw felt certain enough that there was no diamond to bring the group back to Snake Mountain, so he should be able to both catch up on some sleep and plan his next attack on Eternia in peace.


End file.
